Success of 4-3 defense will depend on quick adjustment, injury luck

OXNARD, Calif. — In case your image of football practice is still based on the horrors of Junction, Texas, and Bear Bryant running dehydrated Aggies into the ground, this is about as far away as one can get.

The cool morning breezes flowing between the Santa Susana Mountains and the Pacific, the players lightly jogging through formations and plays — it all has a soporific effect on observers until Monte Kiffin’s voice slices through the air, informing all within a hundred yards that he is sick and tired of telling players where to go.

Rob Ryan and his much maligned 3-4 defense may be long gone, but anyone expecting a smooth ride for the Cowboys’ defense in 2013 is mistaken.

Kiffin’s unit isn’t trying to go where no Cowboy defense has gone before. It’s just getting back to its roots — the Cowboys were always a 4-3 team until Bill Parcells switched in 2005 — but even that requires time and a sometimes painful search for answers.

Head coach Jason Garrett said some teams will take two or three years to make the adjustment between alignments.

“We looked at our linemen and our linebackers and felt like we could do it and not be putting square pegs in round holes. In some cases, we felt the players we had were actually a better fit [for the 3-4],” Garrett said.

The Cowboys believe middle linebacker Sean Lee and weakside linebacker Bruce Carter are among those better suited to the new alignment.

And that may be the case. But it’s also true that Lee missed the final 10 games of 2012. Carter missed the last five. Things like staying healthy and playing with passion could be far more important than a subtle shift in tactics that allows pass rusher DeMarcus Ware to put his hand on the ground.

As for Ware, owner Jerry Jones recently raved about the change because sprinters “don’t stand up at the starting line.” I’m guessing there’s going to be more to this switch than giving Ware a friendlier position at the starting gate.

Here’s one thing to remember. In the 4-3, there’s less of an element of surprise as to where Ware will be and what he will do. Although his drops into pass coverage in the 3-4 have been overstated, it’s easier to move around a mobile pass rusher in that defense than in the new one.

If you recall, when Parcells hinted the team was moving from the 4-3 to the 3-4 in that 2005 off-season, it wasn’t until the draft that people said, “That makes it official, the Cowboys are a 3-4 team.”

And it was the selections of Ware as a linebacker and end Marcus Spears in the first round that prompted those declarations.

That’s not to say Ware is a real concern along the line. He’s going to be productive in any formation. But the Cowboys fell short of upgrading the defensive tackle position in the draft and free agency and lost Tyrone Crawford for the season before the first exhibition game.

One of the surest ways to attack Kiffin’s 4-3 is to run inside against vulnerable tackles. If the Giants’ new starting back, David Wilson, doesn’t test that theory in Week 1, then surely Kansas City’s Jamaal Charles, who ran for more than 1,500 yards following knee surgery, will do it in Week 2.

Another issue is the safeties, whose coordination is crucial. Barry Church has four career starts in three seasons for the Cowboys. And even the more experienced Will Allen, who played for Kiffin in Tampa Bay, has not left training camp as a starter since 2006.

“Whether I’ve been a starter or a backup, I’ve always tried to fill my role for the team,” Allen said. “Here I am in my 10th year starting for the Dallas Cowboys for the guy [Kiffin] who drafted me in ’04.

“I know this defense, but I’m not so sure it’s about the scheme, anyway. It’s the ‘want-to’ from the players. That’s what they’ve been preaching here. We’re slowly but surely building something very solid here.”

The Cowboys will need much better injury luck than they had a year ago to make that happen. And if it turns out they have more square pegs squeezing into round holes than they envision, then the instant improvement they were hoping for the day Ryan packed up and left just won’t be happening.

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About Tim Cowlishaw

Tim Cowlishaw has been The Dallas Morning News' lead sports columnist since July 1998. Prior to that he covered the Cowboys for six seasons and the Stars for three as a beat reporter. He also covered the Rangers as a backup beat writer and was the San Jose Mercury News' beat writer on the San Francisco Giants in the late 1980s.

Tim has been appearing regularly on ESPN"s "Around the Horn" since the show made its debut in November 2002. He also worked with ESPN as part of the network's "NASCAR Now" coverage in 2007-08.

Favorite Dallas restaurants: Park, Nick and Sam's, Kenichi.

Worst sports prediction: His first in college ... that Earl Campbell had no shot at the Heisman Trophy.

Best sports memories: Seeing the Dallas Stars hoist the Stanley Cup long after midnight in Buffalo, watching the Dallas Cowboys win the Super Bowl and Texas win the national title in perfect Rose Bowl settings.